I know the 8 pellet 00 load gets generally high marks around here for patterning.
Well, I found a few boxes of Federal 8 pellet 000 loads in the bottom of a trunk. What kind of reputation does this have? I don't want to shoot it all up just figure it out as I don't know if they still even make it anymore. All experiences appreciated.
My apologies to weasels.
000 pellets weigh about 70 grains each, which is significantly heavier than the weight of 00 buckshot pellets. You can expect deeper penetration with 000. With 00, pellets completely passing through a human torso sometimes happens with a relatively close range shot. With 000 you can expect more pellets to exit whatever critter you hit with them.
The extra weight of the pellets is useful if you are shooting tougher game or at distance. It performs very well against feral hogs, for example.
Because the pellets are bigger and heavier, fewer of them are in a typical payload. 8 pellet is a reduced capacity load in a 00 buckshot size, but it's about as much as a 2 3/4" shell can hold with 000.
It's a widely available loading:
https://www.midwayusa.com/product/100207771/
...so don't be afraid to pattern it. If your gun likes it and you don't have any overpenetration concerns it will definitely work very well.
3/15/2016
OOO buckshot pellets are .36 and weigh about 25% or more per pellet than do OO. I hunted deer with it in the 3 inch version which has 10 pellets. My opinion is that OOO's increased energy is a moot point because a shotgun's pattern spread controls range. For me it was hell on hogs at close range but so was regular buckshot. I think that inside a house OOO's extra penetration would be a disadvantage. The OOO ammo that I shot even in 2 3/4 inch shells had terrible recoil. 2 3/4 inch loads are offered in a magnum variation, and I never saw OOO that did not have this designation. Heavy recoil can cause pellet deformation before the shot charge exits the shell. Deformed pellets often hit on the edge of the pattern.Originally Posted by 314159
Did some math on this stuff. It is definitely loaded hot and is indeed a heavy pellet. I have to shoot just to see but the felt recoil will probably be about the same as the 12 pellet 00 loads. A load for my heaviest shotgun only perhaps.
My apologies to weasels.
I went through Cooper’s API in 1982, Rifle, Pistol, Shotgun.
I shot Winchester 12 pellet 00B in an 870 12 gauge. At the end of the week 500-700 rounds, I was a little tired of it.
I can't imagine shooting that many rounds of this ammo in such a short time period in an 870 "riot gun" as they were once called. Barely 7 lbs. I say that as a guy who once played with 10 gauges and elephant guns. If anybody says that you are shell shocked, you know why.
I was not recoil sensitive but it got old. 870 had a Choate Machine and Tool green plastic stock with separate pistol grip like current tactical stocks.I can't imagine shooting that many rounds of this ammo in such a short time period in an 870 "riot gun" as they were once called. Barely 7 lbs. I say that as a guy who once played with 10 gauges and elephant guns. If anybody says that you are shell shocked, you know why.
No recoil pad.
If I'm not misremembering I had sleeve of Low recoil 8 pellet OOO buck years ago when I lived in the country, don't recall now why I went with that might have just been sale price or something and I figured with distance to closest neighbor there wasn't any real downside to it. Plus bit more likely to deal with vehicles or might need to put down injured animal, though closest ever came to doing that was one hunting season when some hunters asked permission to followup on deer they'd shot outside our property that ran onto our land.
Don't recall any problems with it, it patterned okay, wasn't flight control but I have never used buckshot at significant range, before flight control for me buckshot was for 10 to 12 yards max, prefer slugs reserving buck for limited range/penetration niche.
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